Finding Text
Federal agency: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Federal program name: Medical Assistance Assistance Listing Number: 93.778 Federal Award Identification Number and Year: 2205MN5ADM, 2022 Pass-Through Agency: Minnesota Department of Human Services Pass-Through Number: 2205MN5ADM Award Period: Fiscal year 2022 Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance; Other Matter Criteria or specific requirement: Charges to Federal awards for salaries and wages must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed. These records must: (i) Be supported by a system of internal control which provides reasonable assurance that the charges are accurate, allowable, and properly allocated; (ii) Be incorporated into the official records of the non-Federal entity; (iii) Reasonably reflect the total activity for which the employee is compensated by the non-Federal entity, (iv) Encompass both federally assisted and all other activities compensated by the non-Federal entity on an integrated basis, but may include the use of subsidiary records as defined in the non-Federal entity's written policy; (v) Comply with the established accounting policies and practices of the non-Federal entity (See paragraph (h)(1)(ii) above for treatment of incidental work for IHEs.); and (vii) Support the distribution of the employee's salary or wages among specific activities or cost objectives if the employee works on more than one Federal award; a Federal award and non-Federal award; an indirect cost activity and a direct cost activity; two or more indirect activities which are allocated using different allocation bases; or an unallowable activity and a direct or indirect cost activity. (viii) Budget estimates (i.e., estimates determined before the services are performed) alone do not qualify as support for charges to Federal awards, but may be used for interim accounting purposes, provided that: (A) The system for establishing the estimates produces reasonable approximations of the activity actually performed; (B) Significant changes in the corresponding work activity (as defined by the non-Federal entity's written policies) are identified and entered into the records in a timely manner. Short term (such as one or two months) fluctuation between workload categories need not be considered as long as the distribution of salaries and wages is reasonable over the longer term; and (C) The non-Federal entity's system of internal controls includes processes to review after-the-fact interim charges made to a Federal awards based on budget estimates. All necessary adjustment must be made such that the final amount charged to the Federal award is accurate, allowable, and properly allocated. Condition: During our testing of random moment studies, we identified an individual reported on the second quarter time study report was terminated on March 11th, 2022, the report was certified March 30th, 2022. The Health and Human Services department was not notified of the individual?s termination until April 1st, 2022. Questioned Costs: None Context: Out of the individuals selected for time study testing it was noted that one was incorrectly included on the random moment study report for quarter two. Cause: The Health and Human Services department was unaware of the individual?s termination until after the certification of the report. Effect: The County was not in compliance with time and effort documentation requirements of the Uniform Guidance. Repeat Finding: No Recommendation: We recommend the County reviews its procedures for giving timely notice of an individual?s termination to other departments. Views of responsible officials: There is no disagreement with the finding.